Drug Investigation Leads to Gambling Operation
Two Pensacola, Florida, men face Florida state charges of racketeering and are suspected of operating a gambling operation with ties to a Costa Rican company.

Scott Andrew Carstens, 52, and Keith M. English, 30, each face one count of racketeering, a first-degree felony that carries a maximum punishment of 30 years in prison and a $10,000 fine.

The two men are accused of acting as bookmakers, collecting and paying out sports gambling bets made on a Web site operated out of Costa Rica.

"We're talking about potentially tens of thousands of dollars in bets," Assistant State Attorney Russ Edgar said. "There were dozens and dozens of bettors from the local area, in state and out of state."

Carstens and English were booked into Escambia County Jail on a $25,000 bond each. As of Friday afternoon, English had posted bond. Carstens had not.

Carstens also is among the 53 suspects arrested in Operation Sandshaker, a law enforcement effort against a suspected cocaine ring.

The suspected ringleader of that drug ring, Mitchell "Jackie" Seale, told investigators he placed about four bets with the gambling operation and that Carstens conducted his gambling business with a number of people who frequented The Break, a Pensacola Beach bar, according to an affidavit.

Carstens, a local builder, pleaded not guilty on federal drug conspiracy charges in connection with Operation Sandshaker.

Investigators overheard Seale placing a bet Nov. 4 on the Miami-Ohio college football game during a wiretap authorized to obtain evidence of a suspected cocaine ring. Edgar said the gambling operation and Operation Sandshaker are not related.

"It's just coincidence," Edgar said of Carstens' arrest in both cases.

The Florida Department of Law Enforcement and the State Attorney's Office began working the gambling case in June, after a former employer of English alerted authorities. The employer, suspicious of English's Internet activities while at work, hired a computer expert who determined that English was conducting Internet sports gambling, according to the affidavit.

English was fired and started his own computer company, 19 Communications Services in Gulf Breeze.

The investigation into the gambling activities was put on hold late last year after participating agencies realized Carstens was a suspect in both the gambling and cocaine cases, Edgar said.

Once Operation Sandshaker solidified, the gambling case was reactivated.

A confidential informant told investigators English and Carstens traveled to Costa Rica in late 2002 or early 2003 and met with an individual who ran Safe Deposit Sports, a Web site where people could place bets on sporting events, according to the affidavit.

Gamblers would place a bet on the Web site using a code provided by Carstens or English, who would collect from losers and pay winners, authorities believe. "Basically, they were taking book. But instead of placing bets over the phone, they would do it on the Web site," FDLE special agent supervisor Ed Hudson said.

Edgars said an 800-number operated out of South Florida was set up to take bets by those who did not have access to a computer.

"We have not figured out the money flow exactly," Edgar said. "But the amount of money made was potentially substantial."

FDLE spokeswoman Lisa Lagergren said it was believed the bets included "anything sports-related." Edgar said more arrests are likely. Bettors could face misdemeanor gambling charges, but the focus now is on those running the operation, Edgar said.

According to an affidavit of probable cause, the State Attorney's office believes:

Gamblers would place bets at Safe Deposits Sports online at safedepositsport.com using a code provided by Scott Carstens or Keith English. The two men would check the Web site to see who had bet, whom they should pay and from whom they should collect money.

The business was conducted using cash. Safe Deposit Sports received $28 a week for each bettor. A toll-free telephone number also was set up in South Florida for gamblers not linked to the Internet.

 

U.S. Calls for Trade Rule Equality
USDA wants beef-exporting nations such Brazil and Argentina to adopt mad cow safeguards that match new U.S. rules if they want to continue to sell beef to U.S. buyers.

That would include banning sick and injured cattle from use as human food. USDA's Food Safety and Inspection Service sent letters to 10 exporting nations earlier this month.

The letters said exports would not be accepted if nations failed to comply with the new rules. The letter was made public Wednesday and was sent to agriculture ministry officials in Australia, Argentina, Canada, Brazil, Costa Rica, Honduras, Mexico, Nicaragua, New Zealand and Uruguay.

"We have not heard that any of those countries plan to challenge" the regulations, Agriculture Secretary Ann Veneman told the House Agriculture Committee Wednesday.
 

Brazilian president reshuffles cabinet
Brazilian President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva reshuffled the cabinet on Friday for the first time during his 13-month administration, adding two ministers of the right-wing Democratic Movement Party (PMDB) and creating a new ministry.

With the new appointments, the government will formalize its alliance with the party that helped it obtain important parliamentary victories last year, as Lula's left-wing Workers Party (PT) lacked a majority in Congress.

The PT-PMDB alliance will be a governmental coalition, as it will be part of the campaign for the municipal elections in October 2004.

The principal goal of the cabinet changes aimed to improve government efficiency, Lula said.

The Democratic Movement Party, the number-two party in the Chamber of Deputies with 77 seats and first in the Senate with 22,was given the ministries of communications and social security.

In all, Lula named seven new ministers to replace seven who are leaving, while Ricardo Berzoini moved from Social Security Ministry to Labor and Employment.

Jacques Wagner, the former Labor and Employment Minister, was moved to head the Economic and Social Development Council created by the president last year.

The Social Development and Fight against Hunger Ministry, a new ministry formed by the merger of the Social Assistance and Food Security, will be led by the representative Patrus Ananias (PT), former mayor of Belo Horizonte;

Lula announced the ministerial reform hours before flying on Friday night for a six-day tour to India and Switzerland, the 20thofficial trip of his administration.